Door-opening device



(No Model.)

w. H. MEANS.- DOOR OPENING DEVICE.

No. 418,736. Patented Jan. 7, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. MEANS, or RIVERTON, IOWA.

DOOR-OPENING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 418,736, dated January '7, 1890.

Application filed October 28, 1889- Serial No. 328,495. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. MEANS, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Riverton, in the county of Fremont and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Door- Opening Device, of which the" following is a specification.

My object is to provide means for opening a door by foot-pressure when the hands are not free, and my invention is specially adapted for kitchens and dairies that have screendoors. I

My invention consists in the construction of a treadle and cords and pulleys with a hinged door in a building, as herein set forth, pointed outin my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the treadle; Fig. 2, a perspective view of a bracket adapted to be fixed to the top of a door, and Fig. 3 shows my complete invention applied to a .door as required for practical use.

A is an elbow-shaped bar adapted to be used as a lever of the second order. It is forked at the end of its long arm, andthe branches 1) terminate in hooks or eyes'a'dapted to be connected with a bar or frame fixed to the floor. 1 The end of its long arm terminates in an eye 0, adapted to admit a cord or wire to.

be attached thereto.

D is an integral foot-rest that projects from one side in such a manner that a person can tread thereon to operate the lever.

F is a bracket adapted. in form to be fixed to the top of a door, as shown in Fig. 3.

H represents a screen-door of common form in such a manner that it will swing open outward.

J is a loop or frame fixed to a floor or other stationary object on a level with the door-sill in such a manner that the hooks on theends of the lever A can be attached thereto, as

shown, to hinge the complete treadle.

No. 1 is a pulley fixed to the door-frame above the door and inline with the short arm of the lever, and No. 2 is a pulley attached to the wall at some distance fromthe hinged side of the door and in the same plane occu- I pied by pulley No. 1.

M is a cord fixed to the arm that projects from the fixed bracket at the top of the door and extended over the pulleys, and then attached to the top of the short arm of the lever A, as shown in Fig. 3, in such a manner that when a person is carrying a pan of milk or has his hands otherwise engaged he can readily open the door by placing his foot on the treadle to operate the lever so it will draw the cord downward and swing the door outward and allow him to pass before it will be automatically closed by force stored in a spring connected with the door in a common way.

I claim as my invention 1. As a new article of manufacture, an elthe end of its short arm, and a lateral projection at its central portion adapted to be used as a treadle, in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

2. A device for opening doors by foot-pressure, consisting of an elbow-shaped lever and treadle hinged to the floor, a bracketoor arm fixed to the top of a hinged door, a directionpullcy attached to the wall at some space from the fixed bracket, a pulley fixed to door-frame or wall in the horizontal plane of the other pulley and-in the vertical plane occupied by the free end of the elbow-shaped lever, and a cord fixed to the free end of the lever and extended over the directing-pulleys and attached to the bracket or arm projecting from the top of the door, to operate in the manner set forth.

WILLIAM H. MEANS. Witnesses:

E. SMITH, I. R. KIDD. 

